Olympics: 30.1 million Tuesday viewership best in 36 years

by jmaloni

Thu, Aug 9th 2012 12:10 am

Salt Lake City leads all metered markets; Kansas City second;
Milwaukee third

Tuesday night's
primetime coverage of the London Olympics on NBC drew an average of
30.1 million viewers, the 11th time in 12 nights that the
average viewership for the London Olympics surpassed the Beijing
Olympics. This marks the eighth night that the primetime viewership
for the London Olympics surpassed 30 million viewers, topping the
combined total of the 2008 Beijing Olympics (five nights) and the
2004 Athens Olympics (two nights).

Tuesday night's
coverage, which featured Aly Raisman taking the gold medal in
the floor exercise, and Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells
taking silver and bronze, respectively, in the women's 100m
hurdles, drew 30.1 million viewers, the best for the second Tuesday
for a non-U.S. Summer Olympics since the Montreal Olympics in 1976.

Tuesday night's
viewership is up 11 percent from the comparable night at the Beijing
Olympics (26.6 million) and up 20 percent from the comparable night
at the Athens Olympics (25.0 million).

The primetime coverage on
NBC (8-11:22 p.m.) earned a 17.6/29 national rating/share, 8 percent
higher than the comparable night from Beijing (16.3/27), and 12
percent higher than the comparable night from Athens (15.7/26), the
last European Olympics.

FIRST 12 NIGHTS IN
PRIMETIME - BEST VIEWERSHIP AND HOUSEHOLD RATING FOR NON-U.S.
SUMMER GAMES IN 36 YEARS:

Through the first 12
days, the London Olympics has averaged 32.8 million viewers in
primetime, and a household rating of 18.5/31, making it the
most-watched and highest-rated non-U.S. Summer Olympics since the
Montreal Olympics in 1976.

•The 12-day average
primetime viewership of 32.8 million viewers is 3.4 million more
viewers than the first 12 nights from Beijing (29.4 million) and 6.7
million more than the first 12 nights from Athens (26.1 million).

•The 12-night average
household rating of 18.5/31 is 8 percent higher than the first 12
nights from Beijing (17.1/29), and 17 percent higher than the first
12 nights from Athens (15.8/27), the last European Summer Olympics.

HIGHEST RATED BY TIME
ZONE (THROUGH 12 DAYS):

Mountain

21.7/38

Pacific

20.1/38

Central

20.0/34

Eastern

19.0/32

12-DAY METERED MARKET AVERAGE (ALL 56
METERED MARKETS):

1. Salt Lake City

26.5/47

2. Kansas City

24.3/40

3. Milwaukee

24.2/40

4. Denver

23.9/45

5. Columbus, OH

23.2/38

6. Norfolk

23.1/36

7. Indianapolis

22.5/38

8. San Diego

22.3/39

9. Richmond

22.0/35

10. West Palm Beach

21.9/36

11. Albuquerque-Santa Fe

21.5/36

12. Minneapolis-St. Paul

21.3/40

13. Washington

21.1/38

T14. Austin, TX

21.0/37

T14. Oklahoma City

21.0/34

T14. Portland, OR

21.0/43

17. Sacramento-Stockton

20.9/39

18. Ft. Myers-Naples

20.8/37

19. Atlanta

20.7/34

20. Nashville

20.6/32

21. St. Louis

20.5/34

22. San Francisco

20.4/41

T23. Los Angeles

19.8/36

T23. New Orleans

19.8/29

25. Chicago

19.7/35

T26. Phoenix

19.6/33

T26. Tulsa

19.6/31

28. Jacksonville

19.5/31

29. Cleveland

19.3/33

T30. Greensboro-High Point

19.2/31

T30. Knoxville

19.2/31

32. New York

19.1/32

T33. Baltimore

18.9/31

T33. Seattle-Tacoma

18.9/38

T35. Louisville

18.8/31

T35. Philadelphia

18.8/31

T37. Dallas-Ft. Worth

18.7/33

T37. Orlando-Daytona Beach

18.7/33

T39. Cincinnati

18.6/31

T39. Pittsburgh

18.6/32

41. Detroit

18.5/31

42. San Antonio

18.4/29

43. Memphis

18.3/28

44. Houston

18.1/31

45. Boston

18.0/34

46. Buffalo

17.7/31

T47. Birmingham

17.6/26

T47. Las Vegas

17.6/30

T49. Greenville-Spartanburg

17.5/28

T49. Hartford-New Haven

17.5/30

51. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale

17.0/28

T52. Providence-New Bedford,
RI

16.8/29

T52. Tampa-St. Petersburg

16.8/30

54. Dayton

16.6/27

55. Raleigh-Durham

16.0/26

56. Charlotte

14.6/26

NBCUniversal, presenting
its 13th Olympics, the most by any U.S. media company,
will make an unprecedented 5,535 hours of the 2012 London Olympics
coverage available across NBC, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, CNBC,
Bravo, Telemundo, NBCOlympics.com, two specialty channels, and the
first-ever 3D platform, an unprecedented level that surpasses the
coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics by nearly 2,000 hours.

For the full schedule of NBCUniversal's
Olympic coverage, visit NBCOlympics.com.